From: garylscott@sbcglobal.net   
      
   On 1/18/2026 3:00 PM, Lawrence D’Oliveiro wrote:   
   > On Sun, 18 Jan 2026 17:06:35 +0100, LC's No-Spam Newsreading account   
   > wrote:   
   >   
   >> One had OS-dependent scripting at least as far as early 1980s.   
   >   
   > In those days, “scripting” meant “interpreted”, which in turn meant   
   > “slow”. Perl managed to break the mould by compiling to an   
   > intermediate byte-code form, which made it fast enough to be a real   
   > productivity booster for many common quick-and-dirty programming   
   > tasks.   
   >   
   > I would point to Perl as the start of the wave of “metaprogramming”   
   > languages (by which he meant “very-high-level” languages) that Fred   
   > Brooks predicted in the final edition of his classic book “The   
   > Mythical Man-Month”.   
   >   
   > His own proposed example, AppleScript, is probably best forgotten.   
   REXX could also be compiled, if desired.   
      
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